Recommended English books

(5322 search results)
The Read Around The World Challenge is a global challenge. Anyone can join the challenge from anywhere in the world in any language they want. This is the list of all English books added by participants of this reading challenge.

4511.

The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau EN

Rating: 3.5 (16 votes)
Country: Europe / Switzerland flag Switzerland
Description:
"Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains" These are the famous opening words of a treatise that has not ceased to stir vigorous debate since its first publication in 1762. Rejecting the view that anyone has a natural right to wield authority over others, Rousseau argues instead for a pact, or 'social contract', that should exist between all the citizens of a state and that should be the source of sovereign power. From this fundamental premise, he goes on to consider issues of liberty and law, freedom and justice, arriving at a view of society that has seemed to some a blueprint for t... continue

4512.

The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
A dark academia thriller romance with a supernatural twist. From the winner of the Comedy Women in Print Prize 'An intimate exploration of women's anger, bladed with mystery and sapphic desire. Laura Steven has cut a modern Gothic gem, leaving room for glints of her trademark humour' - Samantha Shannon Ten years ago, four students lost their lives in the infamous North Tower murders at the elite Carvell College of Arts, forcing Carvell to close its doors. Now Carvell is reopening, and fearless student Lottie is determined to find out what really happened. But when her roommate, Alice, stumbles... continue

4513.

The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Angola flag Angola
Description:
While swimming in the clear blue waters of the Rainbow Hotel, Daniel Benchimol finds a waterproof camera, floating seemingly lost in the sea. He goes on to discover that the camera belongs to Moira, a Mozambican artist famous for a series of photos depicting her own dreams. On seeing the images, Daniel realises that Moira is also the mysterious woman whom he has been dreaming about repeatedly. The two meet, and Daniel becomes involved in a unusual dream experiment with a Brazilian neuroscientist, who's working with Moira on a machine to film and photograph people's dreams. Meanwhile, Daniel's ... continue

4514.

The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano EN

Rating: 3 (5 votes)
Country: Europe / Italy flag Italy
Description:
"Mesmerizing...an exquisite rendering of what one might call feelings at the subatomic level." -The New York Times From the author of Heaven and Earth, a sensational novel about whether a "prime number" can ever truly connect with someone else A prime number is a lonely thing. It can only be divided by itself or by one, and it never truly fits with another. Alice and Mattia are both "primes"-misfits haunted by early tragedies. When the two meet as teenagers, they recognize in each other a kindred, damaged spirit. Years later, a chance encounter reunites them and forces a lifetime of concealed ... continue

4515.

The Somnambulist's Dreams by Lars Jerlach EN

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Denmark flag Denmark
Description:
A lighthouse keeper on the coast of New England discovers a small collection of seemingly deranged writings that have been left behind by his somnambulant predecessor. When he begins to read them, he swiftly becomes an unwitting participant in a nebulous narrative that not only defies time and space, but brings into question his own sanity.

4516.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller EN

Rating: 4 (18 votes)
Description:
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfil his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowi... continue

4517.

The Song of Kieu : A New Lament by Nguyen Du EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Vietnam flag Vietnam
Description:
"An essential book for anyone invested, not only in Vietnamese literature, but the historic power of the national epic...and its perennial place in our species' efforts toward self-knowledge. Tim Allen's new translation offers clean fluidity while honouring the original's varied rhythms and jagged lyricism. A luminous feat." --Ocean Vuong A stunning new translation of the legendary Vietnamese epic poem, now for the first time in Penguin Classics Considered the greatest literary achievement in Vietnamese, The Song of Kieu tells the story of the beautiful Vuong Thuy Kieu, who agrees to a financi... continue

4518.

The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin EN

Rating: 4.5 (4 votes)
Description:
Fictional account of travels around Alice Springs; place names fictional; concepts of relationship between songs, land and identity.

4519.

The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C.J. Dennis EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Oceania / Australia flag Australia
Description:
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, a comic verse novel, was first published in book form in 1915 and sold more than sixty thousand copies in nine editions within a year. By the mid-1970s nearly three hundred thousand copies had been sold internationally. One of the most famous works of Australian literature, it tells the story of Bill, a larrikin, who meets a young woman named Doreen. The book chronicles their courtship and marriage, and Bill's transformation from a thuggish gang member to a contented husband and father. This edition has a new introduction by the actor Jack Thompson, renowned f... continue

4520.

The Songs of António Botto by António Boto, Fernando Pessoa, Josiah Blackmore EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Portugal flag Portugal
Description:
The rediscovery of a major voice in modern gay poetry and twentieth-century letters.


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